Weekend wine with Blake Creedon
So what’s up with that?
Well, one of the keys is balance. From a light marmalade-inflected botrytis wine to a mahogany-coloured fortified such as unctuous PX sherry, the natural sugar is the soft bed for bright flavours, from citrus to floral.
Similarly with semi-sweet wines, particularly the utterly gorgeous tang of a slightly off-dry German riesling, one of the pinnacles of wine-drinking pleasure and surprisingly affordable.
* On my blog (blakecreedon.wordpress.com) this weekend I’m following up on a handful of items raised in today’s column, including a handy deconstruction of the seemingly baffling German wine labels such as today’s Carl Ehrhard — it’s simple really and well worth getting a handle on.
* Neil Ellis of Stellenbosch in South Africa is centre stage in Cork and Dublin next week: ‘Seafood & Sauvignon’ is a five-course wine dinner on Monday at 7.30pm at the Hayfield Manor Hotel in Cork — a restaurant which got a starry review in these pages just a fortnight ago. It’s great value at €69 a head. The five-star hotel is also offering a €165pps package which includes dinner and breakfast. Book on 021-4845900 or see www.hayfieldmanor.ie.
The following night, from 5pm to 7pm at Ouzos Bar and Grill in Blackrock, Co Dublin, there’s an open-ended “walk around” tasting accompanied by seafood canapés. It’s €15 per person, or €25 for two. Alternatively, at 8pm, enjoy a four-course winemaker’s dinner complemented by Neil Ellis’s wines for €60 a head. Again, a treat and a bargain.
* Superquinn is hosting a wine evening at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Golden Lane, Dublin 8, on Thursday from 6.30pm to 8.30pm, party food and nibbles will be served; admission €18.
Email jean@jeansmullen.com or phone 086-8168468.
Imported by Searson’s (01-2800405); €15.50.
A smashing peaches and pears German classic. The lower alcohol (weighing in at about 11% ABV) is merely a bonus.
Stockists: McCabes, Foxrock, Blackrock; On The Grapevine, Booterstown & Dalkey; Lonergans, Clonmel; O’Donovans, Cork; Harvest, Galway; Le Caveau, Kilkenny; Patrick Stewart, Sligo; Castle Inn, Tralee; Ardkeen Stores, Waterford.
O’Donovan’s off-licences, €12
One bonus with the classic off-dry German riesling is its light alcohol, in this instance less than 10%. Also try M&S who stock a more upmarket version of Loosens’ Riesling.
Down from €14.95 to €13.45 at Karwig’s, Carrigaline, Co Cork, or www.karwigwines.ie.
This is a touch sweeter than the Orange, but as ever the key is balance: it’s a succulent moreish style. I think even people who prefer dry wine will be wowed by this succulent riesling.
From €10 to €11.50 for 375ml half bottle
This family winery in Victoria has a deserved reputation for developing lesser-used grapes to great effect, and so it is with their dessert wine — two rare grapes rescued from obscurity to deliver the tang of fresh orange on a bed of honey in a thoroughly modern sticky wine.
€6.99 for 375ml half bottle
And now for something completely different — serious Yarra valley winemakers Giant Steps are making a virtue of frivolity in their take on the moscato: a relatively low-alcohol (5.5% ABV) floral-scented strawberry bombe.
About €10 to €11 for 375ml half bottle
Like Sauternes, this one achieves its heady succulence by means of the ‘noble rot’ botrytis to its Bordeaux semillon grape. Skip dessert and have this alongside a good, bitter black coffee.
Stockists include Next Door, Kilkee and Kilrush; O’Donovan’s, Cork; Beer Garden, Turner’s Cross; The 1601, Kinsale.
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